Denon AVR-5308CI AV Receiver

At its heart, the AVR-5308CI is a multizone, 150 watt, seven channel home theater receiver that�s similar in many ways to the one you probably already own. Unlike yours though, this one has an IP address and Ethernet/Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) capabilities. This gives it the ability to go online and explore and organize Internet radio stations. The AVR-5308CI can also access and deliver a Rhapsody music subscription and act as a music server to stream content stored on your computer. It can even download operating system updates and new features as Denon makes them available.

The AVR-5308CI is a modern consumer electronics appliance as well. It has three high speed DSP processors and 12 channels of dual differential Burr-Brown DACs.

It decodes every format known to man, including old school compressed Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES Matrix and Discrete, DTS 96/24, and new school lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

The receiver integrates HD radio within its programmable AM/FM stereo tuner. It�s both iPod and XM Radio ready and there�s even a moving magnet phono input.

In addition, the receiver is equipped with the highly regarded Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction and auto calibration program. Using a supplied microphone you place at up to eight listening positions, it automatically determines how many speakers you�ve connected and their locations. It also checks their size, frequency response, and phase, and determines their distances from the various listening positions.

To optimize the speakers, the system sets a crossover frequency for each one and corrects for room and/or speaker frequency and time response aberrations. The only thing it doesn�t do is slice, dice, chop, grind, and find that slipper hidden under the chaise lounge.

Most importantly, if you don�t agree with or like the results Audyssey produces, you can modify or defeat them to suit your personal preferences. In fact, the AVR-5308CI offers you the ability to modify and adjust virtually every parameter of every audio/video option you can think of. It also allows you to adjust many you�ve not thought of assuming you can find the settings hidden in the nest up in the tree.

The AVR-5308CI�s extensive video facilities center around the Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processor, which many consider to be the best solution on a consumer chip. It can upconvert any incoming video format to 1080p, outputting it via HDMI. The video switching facilities include six HDMI 1.3a inputs, five sets of component video inputs, and two HDMI and two component video outputs.